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Excerpt from the December 1996 Parkinson's Action Network "Action Reporter", an Advocacy Report for the Parkinson's Community- 1996 Has Been Landmark Year in Parkinson's Research >From basic research into the cause to clinical trials of new therapies, this was a landmark year in the quest to understand-and conquer-Parkinson's disease. Meanwhile, developments in research producing new therapeutic options continue. A mid-study analysis of a year's worth of data from a neural cell transplant trial indicates that cells from the brains of pigs transplanted into human brains are helping relieve the rigidity and uncontrolled movement in Parkinson's sufferers. Nine transplants have been performed at the Lahey-Hitchcock Medical Center by James Schumacher, M.D. Eight of nine patients have shown improvement, and the ninth died of an unrelated clot in his lungs seven months after the transplantation surgery. An autopsy revealed that the fetal pig cells had connected themselves properly to his brain and begun to function as they should. "This is the first direct evidence that fetal pig cells will adapt to life in a human brain and work to lessen the symptoms of Parkinson's," said Ole Isacson, M.D., director of the Neuroregeneration Laboratory at Harvard University's Mclean Hospital. Another indication of the promise of this research is the recent announcement that Genzyme Corp.'s Tissue Repair Division and Diacrin Inc. have formed a joint venture to speed the development and commercialization of two Neurocell TM porcine neural cell products for transplantation into people with advanced Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. Both products, NeuroCell-PD for Parkinson's disease and NeuroCell-HD for Huntington's disease, are in Diacrin-sponsored phase 1 trials at major medical centers. "This is the ideal partnership to effectively move Neurocell- PD and NeuroCell-HD towards commercialization so that they will be available to patients as soon as possible," said Thomas H. Fraser, Ph.D., President and CEO of Diacrin. If you have any questions or comments regarding the scientific research described here, please contact PAN at (800) 850-4726 Parkinson's Action Network 800-850-4726 Headquarters: 818 College Ave., Suite C Santa Rosa, CA 95404 phone 707-544-1994 fax 707-544-2363 email: [log in to unmask] Washington, DC office 601 13th St. NW., Suite 310 Washington, DC 20005 phone 202-628-2079 fax 202-628-2077 Brad Udall, Chair Joan I. Samuelson, President John L. Dodge, Treasurer Bonnie K. Mioduchoski, Administrator Michael Claeys, Community Coordinator The Action Reporter is a free publication of the Parkinson's Action Network, a non-profit charitable foundation for a cure for Parkinson's. Use of this material in other publications is welcomed. We ask that the Network be identified as the source of the material, and notified how, when and where the material is used. Simply call 800-850-4726